In the current information age, information technology (IT) tools are extensively used in enterprises and other organizations in order to facilitate processing of documents and data. IT administrators typically have the responsibilities of monitoring and managing IT devices, such as computers, printers, scanners, multi-function devices (MFDs) and other network-connected or standalone devices.
Device management tools (such as application software, etc.) are available to IT administrators to assist the administrators to track, monitor and otherwise manage the devices through a network. Such device management tools allow the IT administrators to check device status to determine a need for repair or maintenance (such, e.g., “out of paper”, “toner/ink low”, “paper jam”, etc.).
However, the number of IT devices connected to a network is generally increasing and, as a result, it is becoming increasingly more difficult for the IT administrators to locate the devices that they wish to examine, while using conventional device management tools. Although an IT administrator operating such tool can categorize the devices into groups, such groups are relatively static and the IT administrator still has a burden of having to manage and navigate through the groups to, for example, check the status of particular devices.
There remains a need for an improved tool that allow the IT administrator to readily limit the number of devices in the user interface view and more particularly to customize the view such that devices that are generally not of interest can be excluded from the view.